Particles Attribute

In the Particles attribute, specify how to control the particle's
basic appearance.

Note

We recommend that you set up the Particles attribute first
because it includes the Texture file, which is used for most
particles.

Particles Attribute Parameters

Name

Description

Particle Life Time

Specifies the lifetime of individual particles. After an emitter's
lifetime has expired, spawned particles live out their own lifetime.

Valid values: 0+

Remain While Visible

Indicates that particles do not die until the entire emitter is out
of view. This is typically used for emitters that move through space
quickly and die to avoid particle pooling and other unintended
consequences.

Default value: false

Facing

Determines how the sprite or geometry is oriented in space. You can
further modify texture orientation using the following rotational
parameters.

Camera (default) – Faces the
viewer, with texture X and Y aligned with screen X and Y. In
this mode only, particles are assumed to represent spherical
objects and are lit accordingly. In all other modes,
particles are lit as flat polygons.

CameraX – Rotates about the
local y-axis only and faces the camera as much as possible.

Free – Rotates freely in 3D.
Be sure to give it some rotation. The default orientation is
equal to the emitter's orientation.

Horizontal– Faces horizontal
to the emitter's z-axis.

Velocity – Faces the direction
of movement.

Water – Faces upward and is
moved and aligned to the nearest water plane.

Terrain – Faces upward and is
moved and aligned to the nearest terrain location.

Decal – Renders the particle
as a deferred decal, projected onto the nearest surface
along the entity's y-axis. The
Thickness parameter under
Collision controls the projection
depth. This parameter works only with materials and does not
work with textures.

Shape – Faces the nearest edge
of the emitter shape boundary. You can use this parameter
with the following shape types: Circle,
Sphere, and Box
Emitter.

Default value:
Camera

Blend Type

Applies to 2D particles only and determines how the sprite blends
with the background.

(GPU only) Opens the Asset Browser to specify
a normal map for the 2D GPU particles.

Glow Map

(GPU only) Opens the Asset Browser to specify
a glow map for the 2D GPU particles.

Note

You must specify a positive value for the Emissive
Lighting parameter for the glow map to
be visible.

Texture Tiling

Splits the texture into tiles for variation and animation.

Tiles X, Y – The number of
tiles that the texture is split into.

Valid values: 1 to 256

Default value: 1

First Tile – The first of the
range of tiles used by the particle.

Valid values: 0 to 255

Default value: 0

Variant Count – The number of
consecutive tiles in the texture from which the particle
randomly selects.

Valid values: 1 to 256

Default value: 1

Anims Frame Count – The number
of tiles that compose an animation sequence. You can use
Variant Count and Anim
Frames Count together. For example, if
Variant Count = 2 and
Anim Frames Count = 8,
the particle randomly chooses between tiles 0
to 7 or 8 to 15, as
an animated sequence.

Valid values: 1 to 256

Default value: 1

Anim Framerate – The number of
frames per second for the animation. If 0, the
animation runs through one sequence in the particle
lifetime.

Anim Blend – Renders the
particle blended between the two adjacent animation frames.
This has a performance impact.

Default value: false

Horizontal Flip Chance –
Specifies the fraction of particles that are rendered and
mirrored in texture X.

Vertical Flip Chance –
Specifies the fraction of particles that are rendered and
mirrored in texture Y.

Valid values: 0 to 1

Default value: 0

Anim Curve – Modifies the
speed and direction of the animation.

Color

Selects the color and alpha to apply to a particle.

Random Between Two Colors –
Right-click the color input and choose the option to
randomize between two colors and alpha values. Right-click
to choose and return to Single Color.

Random – Specifies how much a
particle's initial color varies from the default.

Valid values: 0 = no variation |
1 = random black to default

Random Hue – Causes the
Random color variation to occur
separately in the three color channels. If false, the
variation is in luminance only.

Default value: false

Strength Over Emitter Lifetime
– Defines the color of the particle over the
emitter's lifetime. Double-click to open the
Gradient Editor.

Strength Over Particle Lifetime
– Defines the color of the particle over the
particle's lifetime. Double-click to open the
Gradient Editor.

Alpha clip

(CPU only) Customizes how the particle Alpha
value controls opacity or alpha test values. Each parameter has two
values that correspond when particle Alpha =
0 and 1. They are interpolated for
each particle with its Alpha value and used in
the shader with the following equation:

Enables tessellation, rendering more vertices in the sprite. You must
have a minimum of DirectX 11. This parameter is useful when
Receive Shadows is set, increasing the
resolution of shadows. It is also useful when Tail
Length or Connection are set,
creating smoother curves in connected particles. This produces more
accurate lighting when receiving light from point lights.

Default
value: false

Soft Particles

Applies rendering that softens the intersection between sprites and
nearby objects to prevent unnatural seams. Use sparingly on particles
that need it, such as smoke, because this is slightly more expensive.
Use the Softness parameter to define the amount of
rendering to apply.

Default value: false

Motion Blur

(GPU only) Simulates motion blur on GPU particles. Use Blur
Strength to set the strength of the blur effect.

Geometry

(CPU only) Opens the Asset Browser window to
select a 3D object to use for the particles.

Default value:
empty

Geometry in Pieces

(CPU only) Emits the geometry in pieces, originating at each piece's
location in the asset. This applies only if the
Geometry asset contains multiple subobjects.

All Pieces – Emits geometry
pieces in order over the emitter lifetime.

Default value:
Whole

This parameter requires that
you provide specific names for the nodes in the Maya outliner. The
following show examples of acceptable node names:

In these examples, the groups and individual nodes
have a _group suffix. As a result, the Maya
exporter assumes there is no geometry. If you receive a "group has
no geometry" error, you can safely ignore it.

Geometry No Offset

(CPU only) Uses the geometry pivot for centering geometry particles.

Default value: false

Octagonal Shape

(CPU only) Renders sprites as octagons instead of quads, reducing
pixel cost. Only use with textures that fit within an octagon; otherwise
clipping occurs.

Default value: false

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